When a Mac goes to sleep, the operating system cuts power to the networking hardware and spins down the hard drive to save energy. This effectively disconnects your internet connection, causing any active downloads to pause or fail.
Here’s an interesting and informative take on your subject: "Does Mac continue download in sleep?" does mac continue download in sleep
Introduced around 2012, Power Nap allows your Mac (when plugged into AC power) to: When a Mac goes to sleep, the operating
You’ve just started a massive 50 GB download. It’s late. The progress bar says “2 hours remaining.” You close the lid, expecting sweet silence — and sweet progress. But when you wake your Mac in the morning, the download is frozen at 14%. It’s late
Modern Macs have a clever trick — Power Nap . And in some cases, even without it, certain apps can keep things moving.